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1. Field of the Invention
The system of the present invention relates to utilization of CO2 or other relatively inert gas for operating components in oil field operations such as a drilling rig or production platform. More particularly, the present invention relates to the utilization of stored liquid CO2 which is converted to low pressure CO2 gas for operation of pumps, lubricators, engines or other types of machinery on a production rig so as to eliminate the potential of fire or explosions.
2. General Background of the Invention
In the oil and gas industry, a great percentage of the hydrocarbon such as natural gas or crude oil is produced offshore through the use of a production rig placed in, for example, the Gulf of Mexico, where the production of the hydrocarbon in question is recovered at the platform and transported to storage. Because of the complexities involved in the production of hydrocarbons offshore, production rigs are very expensive and therefore the production rig is normally constructed so as to accommodate only the required machinery, or the like, on the rig in order to carry out the production tasks. Some of the machinery involved in the production of hydrocarbons offshore are various types of machinery that must be driven by a power source. Normally, the power source is a gasoline or diesel operated engine or pump so that the production can be continuous and uninterrupted. One of the hazards of utilizing gasoline driven or diesel driven engines or pumps on the rigs is that there is a great susceptibility to the hydrocarbon being produced causing a fire on the rig which would lead, of course, to the loss of the rig itself and even more serious, the loss of human life should a fire or explosion occur on the rig.
Therefore, there is a serious need in the industry for devising a system which could be utilized to drive the various components on a rig that would be normally driven by gasoline or diesel fueled engines or pumps, yet would be driven by a more inert fuel yet accomplish the same task to operate these components.
A search conducted in the art revealed several patents pertinent to this concept and these are included in the prior art statement submitted herewith.
The system and method of the present invention solves the shortcomings in the art in a simple and straightforward manner. What is provided is a system for powering components on an oil drilling or production platform utilizing a relatively inert fuel, the system including a first plurality of tanks which contain carbon dioxide in the liquid phase; a second plurality of tanks for receiving the carbon dioxide under high pressure in the liquid phase and flowing the carbon dioxide into the second plurality of tanks into a first high pressure gaseous phase. There is further included a third tank which would receive the high pressure carbon dioxide from the second plurality of tanks into the tank under a substantially low pressure within the third tank. There is further provided a series of regulators for monitoring and controlling the pressure of the carbon dioxide as if is moved from the first tanks, through the second tanks and into the third tank.
Upon being received under a certain pressure in the third tank, the tank would be equipped with a means for flowing the carbon dioxide into a component such as a pump or engine so that the carbon dioxide serves as a fuel for driving the component and allowing the component to undertake a particular task on the rig floor such as the testing of lubricators grease units or an engine for driving certain functions of the rig. In the testing of lubricators, for example, on the rig, there may be further included a two-stage pump which would receive the carbon dioxide from the third tank and water from a water tank in order for the pump to pump the water into the lubricator system so as to test the lubricator on the rig floor.
Therefore, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a system of power on a rig floor which incorporates a relatively inert gas such as carbon dioxide in order to drive certain components on the rig floor without the need for volatile fuel such as gasoline or diesel;
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system for allowing an inert gas such as CO2 or the like gas to be moved from a high pressure liquid phase to a low pressure gaseous phase for driving certain components on a rig floor such as a two-stage pump, a grease unit, or an engine utilized on the rig platform;
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system whereby a relatively inert gas such as carbon dioxide is used in place of a highly volatile fuel such as gasoline or diesel fuel, which is utilized in stages so that in its final low pressure phase the carbon dioxide is able to drive components on the rig floor without the fear of any of the hydrocarbons being recovered from igniting due to the use of fuel driven engines on the rig floor.